In my last post, I wrote about how the relationship between Hagen-Renaker and Breyer began with Breyer's unauthorized copies of Hagen-Renaker's large Arabian family, Zara, Zilla, and Amir. After negotiating to re-release the Proud Arabian Mare and Foal in the early 1970s, Breyer also came to an arrangement with Hagen-Renaker to produce some of their smaller molds in plastic, what we now know as the Classic and Stablemate lines. This post will cover the Classic scale models.
In the early 1970s, Hagen-Renaker sent Breyer a variety of bisque horses from their Designer's Workshop and Miniatures series to consider for inclusion as plastic models in the Breyer line. These models were all sculpted by Maureen Love and are often referred to as "Love molds" by collectors. Some of these bisque pieces survived and have happily made it into the hands of several collectors. The horses pictured below are owned by Liz Cory who received them from longtime Breyer retailer and company friend Stuart Bentley. Liz said that some of the bisques were "marked up for production but were never created in plastic. Instead, as Peter Stone told me, they were kept on a shelf in the 'executive men’s room' until the Breyer Chicago factory closed. Stu Bentley visited the factory when they were closing up and he saw these bisques about to go into the trash. He took these bisques home, where he and Mrs Bentley proudly displayed them in their Des Plaines living room for decades until the house was sold. This group then came to me, and they joined additional bisques that I got from Marney [Walerius]." [1]
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| Photo by Liz Cory |
Breyer ultimately chose 14 Designer's Workshop Hagen-Renaker molds to produce in plastic for their Classic series, the first three being Sheba, Sherif, and Fersyn. Breyer issued them as the Classic Arabian family beginning in 1973.
Unlike the Proud Arabian Mare and Foal before them, the Classic scale horses are exact copies of their Hagen-Renaker antecedents, but the Hagen-Renaker originals are a smidge larger than their Breyer counterpoints. The Classic Arabian Family was featured in a beautiful color photo on the cover of the Breyer dealer and box catalogs the following year (1974).
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| HR Sheba (left) and Breyer Classic Arab Mare (right) |
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| HR Ferseyn (left) and Breyer Classic Arab Stallion (right) |
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| Breyer Classic Arab Foal (left) and HR Sherif (right) |
In 1974, the second Classic scale family, the Quarter Horse Mare, Stallion, and Foal, was released based on Hagen-Renaker's Erin, Two Bits, and Shamrock models. And just like the Arabs, the Quarter Horse family got their color photo glamor shot on the cover of the following year's catalog in 1975.
I've always found the Breyer Classic Quarter Horse Mare to be a little wonky, especially for a Maureen Love sculpture. Her body and neck seem a bit too long and thin for her short legs. When we finally acquired a Hagen-Renaker Erin a few years ago, I was fascinated to see the differences between the two pieces. It appears that the Breyer mold ended up slightly skewed proportionally from the HR original which is far more attractive in my opinion.
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| Breyer Classic QH Mare (left) and HR Erin (right) |
Happily Two Bits seems to have translated to plastic without any problems. Likewise for the foal, but unfortunately, we don't have a Hagen-Renaker Shamrock in our collection yet, so I don't have a comparison photo to share at the moment.
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| HR Two Bits (left) and Breyer Classic QH Stallion (right) |
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| HR Man O' War (left) and Breyer MOW (right) |
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| HR Swaps (left) and Breyer Swaps (right) |
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| HR Terrang (left) and Breyer Terrang (right) |
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| HR Silky Sullivan (left) and Breyer Silky (right) |
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| HR Kelso (left) and Breyer Kelso (right) |
The last of the Hagen-Renaker molds to debut in plastic for the Classic series was the Mustang family in 1976 based on Daisy, Comanche, and Butch. (Apologies for not consistently keeping the HRs and Breyers on the same sides for the photos!)
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| HR Daisy (left) and Breyer Classic Mustang Mare (right) |
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| HR Butch (left) and Breyer Classic Mustang Foal (right) |
As I wrote in my last post, these Hagen-Renaker derived molds remained in Breyer's line up for the next 30 years until a dispute over licensing royalties in 2005 brought the arrangement to a screeching halt. Though the companies "settled," whatever the terms were precluded Breyer from continuing to use their molds based on Hagen-Renaker's designs. By 2006, the Hagen-Renaker molds available the previous year had been swapped out for other molds sculpted by other artists. For example, the red roan Classic Arabian Mare and dark bay Classic Arabian Foal in the #62003 Arabian Mare and Foal set were switched out in favor of the Classic Johar mold sculpted by Chris Hess and the Classic American QH Foal sculpted by Kathleen Moody as seen in these photos from the 2005 and 2006 Breyer dealer catalogs.
And then in August of 2014, Breyer suddenly announced a new web special available only to Collector Club members on the Classic Arabian Mare mold, a lovely chestnut tobiano named Cosette. The following year, a matching stallion and foal were issued, also as web specials. In the 10+ years since then, the Classic scale Love molds have slowly reappeared as Breyer web exclusives and Vintage Club editions. They have all been limited releases until 2025 when the Classic Arabian Mare trailblazed her way back into brick and mortar stores just in time for Breyer's 75th anniversary. I was delighted to be able to pick one out over the holidays from the hobby shop my dad frequents.
As of this writing in early April 2026, all of the Classic scale Love molds have reappeared except for Kelso and Silky Sullivan. Perhaps we'll see them in a future Vintage Club release, a limited web special, or maybe even back in stores once more? I am definitely ready for some new Thoroughbreds for my congas!
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Sources:
1) Online conversations with longtime collector and former Breyer employee Liz Cory in February 2023 and February 2026
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